Quiz: Test your knowledge of February’s top legal news

Think you’re caught up on all of February’s top legal news? Then test your skills right here with our monthly news quiz. Read through the following 10 questions, and then click through to the next page to discover how much you remember about this month’s most significant and strangest top legal stories.

1. The family of media mogul Leo Kirch settled a lawsuit concerning the fall of the Kirch Group with which bank to the tune of almost €1 billion?

HSBC

Deutsche Bank

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS)

Barclays

2. In mid-February, Comcast revealed plans to purchase what major competitor for $45.2 billion?

Time Warner

DirecTV

Verizon Fios

Cox Communications

3. Comcast reached an agreement with what major entertainment company to improve the speed and quality of its Internet service?

YouTube

Netflix

Hulu

Vimeo

4. Which baby formula-producing company is now under investigation for possible Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations at a Chinese subsidiary?

Mead Johnson

Nestle

Danone

Abbott Laboratories

5. Which conservative senator has led the charge against the National Security Agency’s surveillance tactics, filing a lawsuit against the agency in February?

John McCain

Paul Ryan

Marco Rubio

Rand Paul

6. Which one of these companies did not sign an IP cross-licensing deal with the other three?

Google

Samsung

Nokia

Cisco

7. Former executives from which company were forced to pay record fines in connection with bribery charges?

Siemens

General Electric

IBM

JPMorgan Chase

8. Which burger chain was recently the target of a patent troll lawsuit that forced it to reevaluate its bottom line?

Whataburger

Steak N’ Shake

In N’ Out

White Castle

9. Cindy Armine, the chief compliance officer of which financial institution, recently stepped down from her position?

Bank of America

JPMorgan Chase

Wells Fargo

AIG

10. Which famous author settled a dispute with her hometown museum over the author’s belief that the museum was attempting to unjustly capitalize off her works?

J.K. Rowling

Harper Lee

Toni Morrison

Joyce Carol Oates

Turn over to the next page for all the answers!

1. The family of media mogul Leo Kirch settled a lawsuit concerning the fall of the Kirch Group with which bank to the tune of almost €1 billion?

HSBC

Deutsche Bank

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS)

Barclays

2. Deutsche Bank

After former Deutsche Bank CEO Rolf Breuer publicly questioned the creditworthiness of the Kirch Group in 2002, the group was a hit with lawsuit after lawsuit, and the resulting negative media attention forced the Kirch Group’s collapse. But now, two years after founder Leo Kirch’s death, his family has finally received some restitution for the trouble Deutsche Bank caused them. The bank will compensate the Kirch family €775 million, plus interest and costs, which amount to another €150 million. “With today’s agreement, we are resolving a well-known and long-standing legacy matter,” the bank’s co-CEOs said in a statement. “In our judgment, this is in the best interests of our stakeholders. We intend to make further progress in this regard, step-by-step, throughout 2014.”

2. In mid-February, Comcast revealed plans to purchase what major competitor for $45.2 billion?

Time Warner

DirecTV

Verizon Fios

Cox Communications

1. Time Warner

Comcast currently boasts the highest cable subscriber base in the U.S., while Time Warner comes in at number two. But if Comcast has its way, those two parties may soon be joining forces. Comcast says that it expects legal challenges, but believes the purchase is in the consumer’s best interest. “The financial benefits of this are attractive and will create sustainable benefits for years to come,” Comcast chief executive Brian Roberts said. “We do not operate in any of the same ZIP codes. We believe this transaction is approvable… pro-consumer, pro-competitive, and strongly in the public interest.” However, detractors are worried about issues of net neutrality, especially with one company overseeing a large portion of the nation’s bandwidth.

3. Comcast reached an agreement with what major entertainment company to improve the speed and quality of its Internet service?

YouTube

Netflix

Hulu

Vimeo

2. Netflix

And this is what those Internet neutrality concerns were all about. A D.C. district court decision in early February gave Internet providers the ability to charge more for services that use more bandwidth, such as Netflix’s streaming video service. In turn, Netflix and Comcast reached an agreement on Feb. 22 to improve the speed Netflix’s service receives. Netflix will reportedly pay Comcast millions of dollars per year for the increased service. For its part, the Federal Communications Commission will not seek to overturn the D.C. court’s decision, but will instead focus on introducing stricter regulations.

4. Which baby formula-producing company is now under investigation for possible Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations at a Chinese subsidiary?

Mead Johnson

Nestle

Danone

Abbott Laboratories

1. Mead Johnson

It all started with an internal probe after rumors surfaced of payments tied to product promotion. But once the SEC got involved, requesting documents related to Mead Johnson’s Chinese subsidiary, the hunt turned into an investigation into possible Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) violations. The company said in a Feb. 20 regulatory filing that it was conducting an investigation into the allegations, and that it would voluntarily turn over any FCPA findings to the SEC. But this isn’t the first time that Mead Johnson has been in trouble for dealings within its Chinese subsidiary. The company also paid a $33 million penalty in 2013 after being ensnared in an industry-wide antitrust probe in China.

5. Which conservative Senator has led the charge against the National Security Agency’s surveillance tactics, filing a lawsuit against the agency in February?

John McCain

Paul Ryan

Marco Rubio

Rand Paul

4. Rand Paul

The NSA has made Rand Paul angry, and now he’s ready to fight back. Paul, in conjunction with libertarian group FreedomWorks, has filed a lawsuit against the Obama administration alleging that the NSA’s bulk collection tactics violate the Fourth Amendment. In his suit, Paul seeks a court declaration that the NSA’s tactics were unconstitutional, as well as an order to purge stored data secretly collected. “There's a huge and growing swell of protest in this country of people who are outraged that their records would be taken without suspicion, without a judge's warrant and without individualization,” Paul said at a Washington D.C. press conference where he unveiled the suit.

6. Which one of these companies did not sign an IP cross-licensing deal with the other three?

Google

Samsung

Nokia

Cisco

3. Nokia

As entertaining as a Samsung/Nokia cross-licensing deal would be, the Finnish smartphone maker actually signed a cross-licensing deal with HTC instead. But it’s Google, Samsung and Cisco that are the real stars of the show, signing a series of cross-licensing deals that are expected to last for the next 10 years. Call it the perfect triangle of patent agreements. First, it was Google and Samsung. Then, Google and Cisco signed their own cross-licensing agreement. And finally, Samsung and Cisco completed the triangle on Feb. 5.

7. Former executives from which company were forced to pay record fines in connection with bribery charges?

Siemens

General Electric

IBM

JPMorgan Chase

1. Siemens

If you’re on trial for potential bribery, it might be a good idea to, you know, actually acknowledge that you’re on trial. But thanks to what the SEC called an “utter refusal to accept any responsibility for their actions,” U.S. District Court Judge Shira Scheindlin has ordered former Siemens executives Ulrich Bock and Stephan Singer to each pay a $524,000 penalty related to bribery charges. Siemens settled the case for $800 million— a record for a corporate bribery case — in 2008, and Bock and Singer now hold the record for largest bribery penalties for an individual. The order came after the two former executives did not respond to the bribery charges against them, were not represented by attorneys, and could not be reached for comment.

8. Which burger chain was recently the target of a patent troll lawsuit that forced it to reevaluate its bottom line?

Whataburger

Steak N’ Shake

In N’ Out

White Castle

4. White Castle

Patent trolls are notorious for causing mayhem, but this… this may be going too far. In February, Jamie Richardson, White Castle vice president of corporate relations, revealed to Legal News Wire that the company has been fighting a patent troll battle for the past year. According to Richardson, it began when the company received a letter concerning a QR code it had placed on some of its marketing materials. Then, the company received correspondence that it was being sued for giving out a link to a news story in its marketing materials. As a result, White Castle has been forced to spend money fighting the suit, as well as investigating its own compliance methods to make sure this can’t happen again. “We’re a family-owned business. We don’t have the global resources that some companies do. So it’s really slowed us down. We’re definitely a lot more reluctant to try new technology,” said Richardson.

9. Cindy Armine, the chief compliance officer of which financial institution, recently stepped down from her position?

Bank of America

JPMorgan Chase

Wells Fargo

AIG

2. JPMorgan Chase

Despite an increased emphasis on risk and compliance at the embattled company, Armine has decided to step down from her position less than one year after taking the top compliance job. JPMorgan said in a company release that Armine would be accepting a position at another company, although it did not specify which company she would be moving to. Sources tell the Wall Street Journal, however, that the company in question is First Data Corp., an Atlanta-based payment processor that is now headed by former JPMorgan executive Frank Bisignano. Since arriving at First Data, Bisignano has hired many employees away from JPMorgan.

10. Which famous author settled a dispute with her hometown museum over the author’s belief that the museum was attempting to unjustly capitalize off her works?

J.K. Rowling

Harper Lee

Toni Morrison

Joyce Carol Oates

2. Harper Lee

I believe they call the sequel To Kill a Lawsuit. The acclaimed author of To Kill a Mockingbird filed a complaint against her hometown of Monroeville, Ala., in October 2013 for allegedly selling items that capitalized on images associated with her book. The complaint said, “The town’s desire to capitalize upon the fame of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ is unmistakable: Monroeville’s town logo features an image of a mockingbird and the cupola of the Old County Courthouse, which was the setting for the dramatic trial in ‘To Kill a Mockingbird.’” But in February, Lee and the town settled the lawsuit, although the details of the settlement have not been revealed.